The Digital Edge

EE Times

Since 2009, Intel, Samsung and TSMC have boosted capital spending significantly, IC Insights noted. In 2010, TSMC doubled its capital spending compared to 2009, while Samsung tripled its semiconductor capex spending, IC Insights said. In 2011, Intel doubled its capex compared to 2010, IC Insights said. Collectively, the planned capex spending of Intel, Samsung and TSMC is forecast to be $30.7 billion in 2012, nearly 3 times as much as the group spent in downturn-plagued year of 2009, IC Insights said.

Samsung said it would spend about $6.5 billion in capital expenditures to support its logic ICs, more than it is planning to spend on memory capex—$5.7 billion—for the first time. IC Insights noted that Samsung currently does lucrative business as the foundry for Apple Inc.'s A4 and A5 applications processors. While reports have been circulating that Apple is looking to transfer all or some of this business to TSMC, IC Insights noted that Samsung does not want to lose it. Read more ..

The Arab Fall in Egypt

WorldJewishDaily.com

Some 70 armed Bedouins are reportedly holding employees of a Sinai resort hostage, demanding over $650,000 in ransom for their safe release.

The incident likely stems from growing discontent over Bedouin exclusion from the new Egyptian government that took shape after Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year. Last week, some Bedouin leaders protested "forged parliamentary elections" while threatening armed confrontation with those in power.

"We will not allow a parliament without Bedouin representation... forged through the alliance between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and a certain Islamic party," said one tribesman. Read more ..

Iran's Nukes

The Hill

Lawmakers from both parties are wary of a U.S. military conflict with Iran as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries. The U.S. just left Iraq and is still fighting in Afghanistan, making many in Congress worried about getting involved in another conflict in the Middle East. But, at the same time, most lawmakers say military action must be on the table to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. That dilemma — and what to do about it — is poised to play out in the halls of the U.S. Capitol as well as the White House in the coming months, starting with President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

In a series of interviews, lawmakers expressed a divide that didn’t always fall on partisan lines about how to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and whether to get the U.S. military involved to do so. “The tension is pretty high right now,” said Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), an Armed Services committee member and retired Marine who carried the nuclear football for Presidents Carter and Reagan. “We cannot let them close the Strait [of Hormuz], and should they try, then we really do run the risk of exchanging fire,” Kline said. “I don’t think they’re going to do it, but I also don’t think of them as a truly rational actor.” Read more ..

Edge of Terrorism

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Nigerian President Goodluck Johnson

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan traveled to the northern city of Kano on January 22 as the death toll from the coordinated attacks on January 20 by the Islamist militant Boko Haram organization continues to rise. An estimated 170 people have now died, most of them police officers and soldiers, from the bombings and shootings at police stations and government buildings in Nigeria's second largest city.

The attacks, claimed by Boko Haram, are described as the group's deadliest ever. President Jonathan, who is Christian, met with the Emir of Kano, the city's Muslim traditional leader, and vowed to bring what he described as "terrorists" to justice.

The group says it aims to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria. A spokesman for Boko Haram said the carnage was in response to the arrest of several sect members in Kano. Soldiers patrolled on Sunday, January 22, in the northern city to ensure security and reassure residents the violence would not be repeated. Hospital spokesman did not discount the possibility of a greater death count, since they believe that more bodies have yet to be brought to the morgue. Residents fled in terror from the bomb scene. Read more ..

The Digital Edge

TheHill

The leading opponent of the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate said the decision to shelve the bill shows the Internet has the ability to affect change in Washington.

“The events of the last week demonstrate clearly that the Internet is the catalyst for the important changes Americans want in government,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters on Friday afternoon, referencing the week of online protests against PIPA and its House counterpart the Stop Online Piracy Act. “Senator Reid’s decision to pull PIPA from the floor is the right one. Legislation impacting the future of the Internet is simply too important to get wrong,” he said.

Wyden first raised concerns about PIPA and its predecessor the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) in 2010, arguing the legislation posed a clear threat to free speech online. Both bills cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. Read more ..

Edge of Terrorism

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Christmas Day, 2011, bombing in Abuja

"I am trying to get in contact with Mgr. John Namanza Niyiring, Bishop of Kano but the lines do not work", reported Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos in central Nigeria. On the evening of January 20, in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, a series of coordinated bomb attacks and armed assaults hit several targets, among which where some police stations.

"Last night, I spoke with the pastor of the church of Our Lady of the Apostles who, over the phone, and told me he was forced to hide because he was under attack. But the information that we have so far are still fragmentary, and we are waiting for confirmation. Telephone lines are interrupted, I do not know if it is due to a technical problem or other causes. The situation is still confusing. We will see how the government reacts to this new attack", said the Archbishop of Jos.

A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in Nigeria's second-largest city, Kano, after a coordinated series of bomb attacks. Nigerian police say at least seven people have been killed in the bombings that targeted police and government offices in the northern city. The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Read more ..

Oil Addiction

The Hill

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline. LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project. “We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement. The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups and labor unions, confirmed LIUNA’s exit Friday afternoon. “The BlueGreen Alliance regrets the decision of the Laborers' International Union of North America to leave our strategic partnership of labor and environmental organizations,” the group’s executive director, David Foster, said in a statement.

The move underscores the intense political divide among unions over the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf Coast. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said earlier this month that the group’s membership has been unable to come to a unified position on the pipeline Read more ..

Afghanistan on Edge

VOA

Nicolas Sarkozy

France has suspended its military operations in Afghanistan and may withdraw its force from that country after an Afghan soldier shot dead four French troops and wounded several others. The French government has described Friday's attack against the soldiers as an assassination. French officials say an Afghan soldier killed the four troops during a training exercise at a base jointly operated by French and Afghan forces in the eastern province of Kapisa. Several other soldiers were wounded.

This is the second time in a month that Afghan soldiers have killed French troops. The assault brought to 82 the number of French soldiers killed during the decade they have operated under the NATO mission in Afghanistan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he was suspending all French military operations in the country and dispatching his defense minister and other top officials to check out the situation there. Sarkozy said if security measures were not met for French soldiers and for recruiting Afghan soldiers, France may withdraw all of its roughly 4,000 forces from the country. He said French troops were in Afghanistan to fight against terrorism and the Taliban, not to be shot at by allies. Read more ..

Democracy on Edge

RFE/RL

The U.S.-based pro-democracy group Freedom House has called the popular uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2011 the greatest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism, and said they have brought hope to people around the world who live in countries with oppressive governments. The conclusions come in Freedom House's latest "Freedom in the World" index, which has been published annually since 1972 and measures the ability of people to exercise their political and civil rights in 195 countries and 14 territories."

In the one region of the world -- the Middle East, which has been immune to the wave of democracy that affected every other region of the world back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s -- democracy is now a potential in that region," the group's vice president for research, Arch Puddington, told RFE/RL in connection with the report's publication. He said the political upheaval that began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt and other Arab countries shows that democracy is possible even in the most repressive of societies. Puddington added that "people are no longer willing to accept the old despotic ways of rule, and for this reason, we see the year 2011 as one that is cause for optimism and not for despair." Read more ..

The 2012 Vote

The Hill

A fiery attack by Newt Gingrich on the news media for raising questions about his acrimonious divorce set the tone for a bruising Republican presidential debate that featured tough critiques of the presumptive front-runners - and more gaffes for Mitt Romney. Gingrich was pressed by moderator John King to comment about recent interviews given by Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, in which she said that Gingrich had requested an open relationship. "I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that," Gingrich said, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd.

"I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate," Gingrich added. The former House Speaker went on to denounce the story as "false" and accuse the media of raising the issue to protect President Obama. "I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans," Gingrich said. Read more ..

The 2012 Vote

The Hill

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich abruptly ended a news conference on January 19 when pressed on his extramarital affairs. “I’m not going to say anything about Marianne,” Gingrich said with an edge to his voice as he was pressed with questions about an explosive interview his ex-wife Marianne Gingrich has given to ABC. Marianne Gingrich claimed her former husband asked her for an “open marriage” so he could continue a romantic involvement with a congressional aide who eventually became his third wife, Callista Gingrich.

“It’s an issue I confront every time it comes up, and I confront it exactly the same way it comes up — and the people seem to be satisfied by it,” Gingrich said when asked by a reporter if he thought he needed to further address the matter. Reporters tried to ask Gingrich more specifically about his ex-wife’s charges, but he refused to answer.

“I just answered you — that’s my answer,” he responded testily before trying to move on to the endorsement his campaign received the same day from Rick Perry, who bowed out of the race. “I want to thank all of you for being here, I’m delighted Gov. Perry endorsed me and I look forward to tonight at the debate,” he said before walking off quickly. Read more ..

Economy on Edge

VOA

The World Bank has scaled back its growth forecast for the global economy in 2012, as a result of Europe's ongoing debt problems. Although the world lending institution says the eurozone crisis appears to be under control, it is warning developing countries to brace for an economic slowdown and the possibility of a deepening economic crisis. The world's economy is expected to grow more slowly this year. Hans Timmer, head of development projects at the World Bank, projects overall growth in 2012 at around 2.5 percent - more than a full percentage point below the bank's initial estimate. "This will be a very slow recovery and it will take many, many years before the damage done by the great recession and the damage done by the imbalances created in a boom period before the recession are undone," said Timmer.

Developing countries will continue to outpace growth in richer, more developed economies but emerging countries face significant risks. World Bank economist Lin Yifu says that includes reduced capital flows and trade if the European crisis worsens. "The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone has appeared to be contained, however the risks of global freezing up of capital markets as well as a global crisis, similar to what happened in 2008 are real," said Yifu. Read more ..

The Digital Edge

From RFE/RL and Services

A storm of protest from free-speech activists, popular Internet sites, and Internet users has prompted several U.S. lawmakers to drop their support for proposed Internet antipiracy legislation, including some co-sponsors of the controversial bills. Legislators switched sides as protests on January 18 blanketed the Internet and drew attention around the world to what the lawmakers now say are flaws. The "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the so-called "Protect Intellectual Property Act" (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate have been a top priority for lobbyists from entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical firms, and others who say the legislation is critical to reducing online piracy.

The aim of the bills is to curb access to overseas websites that sell pirated films, music, and other copyrighted content -- U.S. companies would be barred from doing business with these sites. But Internet sites and tech companies argue that the proposals are so heavy-handed they would undermine innovation and free-speech rights, while also compromising the function of the Internet. Wikipedia, the world's free online encyclopedia, shut down for a day on January 18 in protest. Google and others used black censorship bars to draw attention to details in the draft laws. Read more ..

The 2012 Vote

iWatch

Mitt Romney, who made millions buying and selling companies for a private equity firm, pays an effective tax rate that is lower than a family earning less than $70,000. “It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything,” Romney told reporters in South Carolina Tuesday, when asked about his taxes. The Bain Capital founder and current GOP presidential front-runner has been under pressure to release his tax returns. Romney is estimated to be worth as much as $264 million. If he had earned all that cash from salaried work, he would likely be in the top federal tax bracket of 35 percent. But because private equity partners and hedge fund managers make most of their money from carried interest — a cut of profits off investments that are taxed at the lower 15 percent capital gains rate — the Romney household likely pays a lower overall tax rate than many middle class American families.

But not all of Romney's earnings are taxed at the capital gains rate. The $374,328 in speaker's fees that the former Massachusetts governor disclosed in his candidate financial disclosure filing will likely be taxed at the higher 35 percent rate when he files in April. Romney told reporters Tuesday that the money he made from his paid appearances was “not very much,” a quote that has already found its way into an attack ad from American Bridge, a Democratic-aligned super PAC. Even before admitting his low tax rate, Democratic groups had targeted Romney over the carried interest loophole. In October, the Democratic super PAC American Priorities renamed it the “Romney Rule” after an analysis from the advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice estimated that Romney paid a rate of 14 percent. Read more ..

The Digital Edge

Cutting Edge Correspondent

Internet encyclopedia Wikipidia is to stage a 24-hour black out on its English language sites in protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation. The controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), if passed, would allow U.S government and asserted owners of content to close down sites connected to piracy.

Wikipedia president Jimmy Wales announced on Twitter that his website will join Reddit and other online businesses in an internet blackout scheduled for January 18. Speaking from his Twitter account, Wales warned students ‘Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday #SOPA.’ The blackout, commencing at midnight EST, is hoped to create greater opposition to the piracy bill. Site visitors will be met with information relating to SOPA and the corresponding Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and will ask readers to urge local congressmen to vote against both bills.

Responding to two petitions against the bills, the White House stated that they will not “support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” The bill does however, have considerable support from Hollywood and the music industry. Another supporter, News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch responded, via Twitter, to the news from The White House, “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.” Read more ..

North Korea on Edge

VOA and Services

The Associated Press has opened a bureau in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from the reclusive nation in words, pictures and videos. AP opened the office Monday, after almost a year of negotiations and less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il.

AP President and CEO Tom Curley says the organization's newest bureau allows the news agency to "document the people, places and politics" of North Korea across all media platforms at a "critical moment in its history." Curley says the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide. The bureau expands AP's presence in North Korea, which has remained largely off-limits to international journalists. In 2006, AP was the first international news organization to open a video bureau in Pyongyang. Read more ..

Edge on China

VOA News

Chinese President Hu Jintao

Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to visit Addis Ababa this month to inaugurate a new African Union headquarters financed by China and built largely with Chinese labor. The project was launched when Moammar Gadhafi was maneuvering to move Africa's diplomatic capital to Libya. Official African Union and Ethiopian sources confirm that President Hu will be in the Ethiopian capital January 28 to open what is being called “China's gift to Africa.” The inauguration ceremony will be held the day before African heads of state hold their January meeting at AU headquarters for the first time.

According to custom, African heads of state meet every January in Addis Ababa. But the summit previously has been held at the city's United Nations conference center because the AU headquarters building was too small. Construction of new facility began in June 2009, when Addis Ababa's position as Africa's diplomatic capital was in doubt. The city has been home to the continental body since its founding, largely due to the influence of the late Emperor Haile Selassie, who was one of the driving forces behind creation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. But in 2009, the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was the AU chairman, and he made no secret of his desire to build a grand new headquarters in his hometown of Sirte. That plan was thwarted, however, when China agreed to pay for a $200 million facility in Addis Ababa. It was built by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, largely with Chinese labor. Read more ..

Edge on the Economy

The Hill

President Obama will propose tax incentives for companies that create jobs and will try to eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs, he said in his weekly address. "In the next few weeks, I will put forward new tax proposals that reward companies that choose to do the right thing by bringing jobs home and investing in America – and eliminate tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas," Obama said on January 14.

The tax proposals are part of the White House's "insourcing" push. Obama on January 11 urged the nation’s corporate executives to invest in the United States by insourcing jobs to help the economy rebound, saying it’s “a race I want America to win.” The president featured products made in America during his weekly address. "The companies that make these products are part of a hopeful trend: they’re bringing jobs back from overseas," Obama said. "You’ve heard of outsourcing – well, this is insourcing." He also touted his plan to reorganize federal agencies to help businesses. Read more ..

War on Terror

The Hill

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Thursday that he is encouraged by news that Muslim Americans in the Tampa, Fla., area provided information that led to the arrest of a Kosovar-American who was plotting an attack against the U.S. military there. Press reports say that Sami Osmakac met with radical Islamist groups while in Kosovo, and planned to use a car bomb to attack the U.S. military in Florida. Osmakac was arrested Sunday and was charged earlier this week.

King said he has been "reliably informed" that Tampa's Muslim American community tipped off U.S. authorities. "The good citizen or citizens who reported Osmakac to authorities deserve great credit for doing what too many leaders in the Muslim American community too often fail to do," King said. "I have long advocated for increased cooperation between Muslim leaders and law enforcement, so this development is a positive sign." Read more ..

Iran's Nukes

VOA and Services

The killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week has provoked a wave of anger in Tehran, which blames Israel and the United States for the attack. A hardline Iranian newspaper called on January 12 for retaliation against Israel, which Iranian authorities say orchestrated the January 11 bomb blast. An editorial in the Kayhan newspaper called for assassinations of Israeli military and other officials. The comments follow Tehran's call for the United Nations to condemn the attack and take steps toward eliminating what it called terrorism. Both Israel and the United States have denied any role in the killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist.

The United States, other Western countries and Israel suspect Iran is using its nuclear program to build weapons. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, and that the attack will not delay work on the program. Read more ..

Inside the War on Terror

VOA and Services

Pakistani officials say a U.S. drone strike has killed four suspected militants in the country's northwest near the Afghan border. Intelligence sources say the missiles hit a vehicle driven by rebels Thursday in the North Waziristan tribal region. This marks the second drone strike in the region this week. Late Tuesday, U.S. missiles killed four suspected militants after hitting a compound near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. U.S. officials confirmed that attack, the first of its kind since NATO helicopters mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the border last November.

The November attack worsened already strained U.S.-Pakistan relations and prompted Pakistan to block supply routes for NATO troops in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have denied that the recent drop-off in drone strikes has been deliberate.But last month, a prominent U.S. newspaper said the Central Intelligence Agency had suspended drone strikes targeting low-ranking militants in Pakistan for six weeks to mend badly frayed relations with the South Asian nation. Read more ..

Nuclear Edge

The Hill

The destroyed car that Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was in when he was killed

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied Wednesday that the U.S. was involved in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” Clinton said at a January 11 news conference.

The assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who was deputy director of an Iranian nuclear facility, was just the latest in a series of escalations between Iran and the West in recent months.

According to Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency, Roshan was killed after a motorcyclist planted a bomb under his car. A subsequent report blamed Israel for the attack. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have been simmering long before Wednesday’s attack. Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil passageway, in response to economic sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran then warned that U.S. ships should leave the Persian Gulf. Earlier this week Iran sentenced to death a former U.S. Marine. Read more ..

Iran's Nukes

The United States has announced its second naval operation in less than a week to rescue Iranian sailors from a distressed vessel in international waters.

The Pentagon said a U.S. Coast Guard cutter picked up the six Iranian mariners after their cargo ship, the "Ya Hussayn," broke down in the northern Persian Gulf.

“This is consistent with meeting our obligations to rescue vessels in distress,” Pentagon spokesman George Little was quoted as saying. Last week, a U.S. Navy ship rescued 13 Iranian fishermen in the northern Arabian Sea who had been held captive aboard their ship by Somali pirates. In that incident, U.S. officials said the U.S. Navy provided fuel and food for the Iranians to return home.Read more ..

Election 2012

The Hill

Mitt Romney will win the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, giving the former Massachusetts governor a clean sweep of the first two primary contests. Networks projected a Romney victory in the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m. on January 10, suggesting he would shut out his opponents by a wide margin — and that a last-minute flurry of rancorous attacks did little to knock Romney down from his longstanding position of dominance in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Early results showed Texas Rep. Ron Paul taking the coveted No. 2 slot, likely earning him a second look as the GOP race moves on to South Carolina and Florida. Romney’s victory in New Hampshire came one week after he narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, making him the first non-incumbent to win both states since the two took their place at the front of the primary calendar almost four decades ago.

As results continued to trickle in, Romney and his rivals were focused on the open question of how wide a margin Romney would secure over his Republican rivals. Early results showed Romney capturing about 36 percent of the vote, with Paul in second and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman in third, with 8.6 percent of precincts reporting. Read more ..

Iran's Nukes

World Jewish Daily

Leon Panetta

The Obama administration has effectively put Iran on notice that war between the U.S. and the Islamic theocracy is a serious possibility. Appearing on CBS television's Face the Nation on Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey laid down two unequivocal red lines: the development of a nuclear bomb or closure of the Straits of Hormuz by the Iranian navy. Either of these, he said, would lead to military action against Iran. "Our red line to Iran," he stated, "is to not develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us."

When pressed whether the US could "take out their nuclear capability" without using nuclear weapons, [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Dempsey said this: "I certainly want them to believe that that's the case." Panetta added: "I think they need to know that... if they take that step - that they're going to get stopped." Dempsey also outlined another act the United States would consider a casus belli: an Iranian blockade of the Straits of Hormuz. “They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.” Read more ..

Burma on Edge

VOA and Services

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has confirmed that she will run for parliament in the country's highly anticipated April by-elections. A spokesperson for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said Tuesday the Nobel Peace Prize winner will compete for a seat in Kawhmu Township, on the outskirts of her hometown of Rangoon. Last week, the government approved the NLD to participate in the April 1 elections, marking its return to mainstream politics after two decades. But it had been unclear whether Aung San Suu Kyi herself would compete for a seat.

It will mark the first time the pro-democracy leader has run for political office. Her NLD party won a landslide victory in 1990, but the military government prevented it from assuming power. Aung San Suu Kyi spent the majority of the years since then under house arrest. The NLD boycotted general elections in November 2010 because of restrictions that, among other things, would have prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from running. That vote installed a nominally civilian government that has made a series of reforms, including beginning a dialogue with opposition groups.

Nicholas Farrelly, a Burma analyst at the Australian National University, told VOA the NLD's decision to compete in the upcoming elections reflects a significant change in Burma's political climate. “Since the elections that were held back in November 2010, so much has changed in the politics of Burma, and I think we see that so clearly with this recent effort by Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters to become active players once again in the country's mainstream political system.” Read more ..

Syria on Edge

VOA and Services

Bashar al-Assad

Syria's representative to the Arab League says comments by the head of the group's committee on Syria, show a "biased stance" toward the crisis in the country. Syria's state-run SANA news agency Monday reported the criticism by Yousef Ahmad, who said the "majority of the Syrian people" are against outside interference in the country. His comments came in response to those made Sunday by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani calling for Syria to stop its deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Arab League foreign ministers agreed Sunday to increase the number of monitors observing Syria's compliance with a plan to stop the violence. The top diplomats from Qatar and other Arab nations met in Cairo to assess the progress of the observer mission, which has about 150 people in Syria. Syrian opposition activists and rights groups have criticized the observers, saying their presence has failed to secure any easing of the crackdown by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Some critics have called on the League to withdraw the monitors. Read more ..

Inside Africa

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Nigerian Christians of indigenous tribes in the state of Yobe in northern Nigeria are preparing to abandon their ancestral territories, due to violence and the threat of further violence on the part of the Islamist Boko Haram terrorist organization. Gunmen from a radical Muslim group attacked a gathering of Christians in Nigeria on Jan 6, killing at least 20 people. The assault targeted a town hall where ethnic Igbo Christians were gathered together. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the killings, which followed threats by the group to begin specifically targeting Christians living in the country's Muslim dominated north. On Christmas Day 2011, Boko Haram conducted raids on several Christian targets, killing scores.

According to the Fides news service, the people of northern Nigeria is in a panic, following the expiration of the ultimatum launched by Boko Haram, which enjoined Christians to leave the north within three days. The attacks by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria continue, even after President Goodluck Jonathan had decreed a state of emergency to prevent violence in four states and temporarily closed the nation's borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Boko Haram has been frequently linked to Al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group once led by the Saudi Arabian, the deceased Osama bin Laden. Read more ..

The Edge of Terror

From VOA and Services

Pakistani officials say a bomb blast near the Afghan border has killed at least 25 people and wounded 26 others, making it the deadliest attack of its kind in months. The explosion hit a market in the Khyber tribal region Tuesday at a site where vehicles being used by pro-government militias were located. Officials say they believe the bomb was likely remote-controlled. While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, this type of attack is a common tactic of Pakistan's militant groups in the country's volatile northwest.

Since 2007, Islamist militants - some with links to al-Qaida - have carried out hundreds of bombings, which have killed thousands. However, there had not been a major Islamist militant attack in the country since a suicide bomber killed at least 31 people at a funeral for a tribal elder opposed to the Pakistani Taliban last September. Read more ..

Mexico's NarcoWar

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

The dead bodies of 13 people, all of them male, were found at a gas station in Zitacuaro, Michoacan State, close to several schools. The nearly naked bodies were found in a heap, and showed obvious signs of torture in addition to the bullet holes in their heads. Ten of the dead were adults, and three were minors.

Local police were alerted to the bizarre sight by fellow citizens who found the bodies on a main boulevard. Messages were found on the bodies, as is usual in cases involving retribution on the part of Mexico's narcoterrorist cartels. The scrawled messages were directed at a gang led by a criminal known by the alias “El El Güero” (Blondie, in English), in an apparent challenge over turf.

It is not known when the killing of the latest victims took place. The pile of bodies released an overpowering stench, leading to the conclusion that the men and boys had been tortured and killed in one place and then later dumped some days later at the Zitacuaro filling station. Neighbors in the vicinity claim that the bodies were dropped off at approximately 2 a.m. local time in the central Mexican state, long known for the production of powerful marijuana. Local police theorize that the dead were from the region of Huetamo, in the hot lowlands of Michoacan. Read more ..

Inside America

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Sailors and Marines swear Citizenship oath (US Navy photo)

Despite a flagging economy, foreigners continue to flock to the Land of the Free and the Brave, according to a Pew study.

The foreign-born population in the U.S. increased by 616,000, or 1.6%, from 2009 to 2010, according to a new analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Both the absolute increase and the percentage increase are substantially smaller than implied by American Community Survey (ACS) data released by the Census Bureau because of the Pew Hispanic Center's revisions to ACS data for 2009.

According to the ACS, the U.S. population in 2010 included 39.9 million foreign-born residents. This estimate, the latest available for the foreign-born population, is 1.5 million, or 4%, higher than the survey's original estimate of 38.5 million in 2009. The Pew Hispanic Center revised the 2009 estimate to account for changes in the Census Bureau's assumptions about population composition that underlie the original 2009 ACS estimates. The Pew Hispanic analysis concludes that the foreign-born population in the U.S. was 39.3 million in 2009 and the actual change from 2009 to 2010 is less than half the magnitude of the reported change. Read more ..

The Arab Fall

from VOA and Services

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh

Yemen's interim government has agreed to grant immunity to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his administration, clearing the way for his departure in line with a Gulf-brokered agreement. The government on Sunday approved the law that grants Mr. Saleh immunity from "legal and judicial prosecution" for any alleged crimes committed during his 33-year rule. Yemen's parliament still must approve the deal.

In November, Mr. Saleh signed a Gulf-brokered deal aimed at ending the political crisis in the impoverished country. Under that deal, he handed authority to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, ahead of a February presidential election in which Hadi is the consensus candidate of major parties. Read more ..

Syria on Edge

VOA

Arab League officials have demanded Syria abide by its agreement to end violence against civilians and have vowed to carry on with a monitoring mission that many in the Syrian opposition feel is ineffectual. In their first review of the Arab League's observer mission in Syria, regional foreign ministers took few concrete steps that would put additional pressure on Damascus. Officials at the Cairo meeting had been expected to discuss possible U.N. technical help, a step towards bringing in additional nations to deal with Syria's brutal crackdown on a popular uprising.

But one of the most outspoken critics of the Syrian government, Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Jassin al-Thani, warned the monitoring mission is not open-ended, adding officials have a rough idea of when they will decide no further progress can be made. "But I do not think it is wise to announce this date. We do not want to threaten anybody. We are trying to cooperate with everybody, until we achieve peace in Syria, which up until now we are not satisfied [about] and I cannot see it," he said. Read more ..

Iran's Nukes

from VOA and Services

A senior Iranian official says Iran will launch a second uranium enrichment facility later this month at an underground site that is well protected from potential air strikes by nations opposed to the Iranian nuclear program. The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Fereidoun Abbasi said late Saturday the injection of uranium gas into centrifuges at the Fordo enrichment facility will begin before February 1. Iran revealed the existence of the plant to the U.N. nuclear agency in 2009. It is located beneath a mountain near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom. Western powers suspect Iran's enrichment activities are aimed at developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity and material for medical research. The United States and its ally Israel have not ruled out military action to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to the Jewish state's existence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Iran's nuclear program has not progressed to the stage of building a nuclear bomb. But in an interview with U.S. television network CBS broadcast on Sunday, Panetta says that if Iranian leaders take that final step, the United States will stop them. Panetta says the United States will continue what he called a "responsible" approach of putting diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran to abstain from developing nuclear weapons. He also advised Israel not to take unilateral action against Iran, saying a "better approach" is to "work together" with the United States on the issue. Read more ..

Inside Africa

Nigeria's president has appealed for calm following a series of deadly attacks on Christians suspected of being carried out by Islamist militants. President Goodluck Jonathan, in a televised address on January 7, vowed to battle what he described as terrorism. The president's remarks came as more than 30 people were reported killed in a series of attacks, including on churches, and hundreds of Christians were reported fleeing northern Nigeria.

"I urge all Nigerians to eschew bitterness and acrimony to live together in harmony and peace," Jonathan said. "Wherever there is any threat to public peace, our security forces will enforce the law without fear or favor." The Boko Haram movement issued a warning last week calling on Christians to get out of mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.Read more ..

The Battle for Syria

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Syrian President Basher Al-Assad

Foreign ministers of the Arab League member states are meeting in Cairo to assess the performance of the organization’s observer mission in Syria. The mission, which began work in Syria on December 26, has come under scrutiny, with critics noting that the mission has not resulted a halt of violence by the Syrian regime's forces against protesters. In numerous cases, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security forces have killed civilians with sniper fire in the presence of Arab League observers.

The Syrian opposition has called on the Arab League to admit that the mission has failed, and has urged that the Syrian matter be handed over to the United Nations. Reports say, however, that the Arab League meeting in the Egyptian capital is not expected to result in a recall of the observers. Ahead of the meeting, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani was quoted as saying the Syrian regime had not implemented the terms of the Arab League-backed peace plan. He said Syrian forces had not withdrawn from cities and there had been no end to the killing. Read more ..

Crimes of Intolerance

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

A 22-year-old man, who is described as having autism, was assaulted and injured on January 4 in Lawrence, Kansas. Standing outside of a local Starbucks café, A.J. Alexander said that the perpetrator approached him in downtown Lawrence and struck him in the head, leaving a visible bruise on his left eye. Following the vicious attack, witnesses at the coffee house told the victim’s father, Tom Alexander, that the assailant “came out of nowhere” and struck the hapless youth.

Tom Alexander added that AJ is incapable of defending himself and that there was no reason why he should be attacked. AJ said that he was listening to music at the time when he was punched in the head. "I've never been sucker punched in my life," averred AJ. See video here.

The Alexander family came from California approximately twenty years ago. At that time, AJ was apparently unable to speak because of his condition, but with the help of the local school system, he is now communicative. AJ holds a job and lives with his parents. "AJ could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Tom Alexander. "But if he was singled out because he was acting like AJ, that's a pretty bad thing." AJ says that despite the assault, “I’ll be okay.” Read more ..

Genocide Watch

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Leftist Turks protest at French embassy in Ankara

About two dozen people of Turkish origin or descent gathered in front of the French Consulate in New York on January 5 to protest the French genocide bill, which would criminalize the denial that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 constituted genocide. The evening protest, which was organized by the Young Turks Association, featured around 20 people waving Turkish and U.S. flags as they chanted "shame on France". Mae Sonmez, Vice President of the Northeast Region at the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, moved to the United States 23 years ago. She maintained that the bill was both "unfair" and "illegal," and that numerous attempts by the Turkish government to discuss what had happened were rejected. "The Turkish government [are] always asking Armenia [to] open the books, let's discuss on both sides," she said. "But they never open the books...we never can discuss archives and what is the truth." Read more ..

Syria on Edge

VOA and Services

A suicide blast went off at a busy intersection in the Syrian capital Friday, killing 25 people and wounding at least 46 others. Syrian state media say an attacker blew himself up near a school and police station in the central district of Midan in Damascus. A bus carrying policemen appeared to be the target of the attack. State television showed people carrying human remains, and others shouting the blast was the work of terrorists. The footage also showed damaged vehicles, including what appears to be a police bus with shattered windows and blood in it. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes two weeks after twin blasts targeting security buildings in Damascus killed 44 people. Meanwhile, there is mounting criticism about the effectiveness of an Arab League mission in Syria that is monitoring President Bashar al-Assad's compliance with a plan to end a bloody, 10-month crackdown on protesters. Read more ..

Edge on Terrorism

Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent

Iraqi officials say multiple bombs have exploded in Shi'ite areas of the capital, Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and wounding more than 60 others.

The January 5 blasts first hit the northern neighborhood of Sadr City. Officials say a bomb planted in a motorcycle exploded near a group of laborers who had gathered to seek work, followed by a roadside bombing a short time later. The explosions killed 12 people.

Then in Kazimiyah, another Shi'ite area in northern Baghdad, a pair of car bombings killed 15 people. Iraqi Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the aim of the attacks is "to create turmoil among the Iraqi people." He said it was too early to say who was behind the bombings. Read more ..